Chapter 66.1

Chapter 66.1

“What are you doing?”

His piercing gray eyes sometimes seemed inhuman. Seoryeong felt relieved to see him awake, but she didn’t stop what she was doing. She tied the wire around one of his wrists and then connected it to her own wrist. Lee Wooshin watched her in astonishment.

“It might look silly, but I finally caught you, Instructor.”

Despite the burning pain in her muscles, a sense of victory exploded in her mind like fireworks. Her eyes narrowed with satisfaction, and her lips curved into a proud smile. Her cheeks lifted so much that her face felt tight.

“No take back later.”

Her straight teeth showed, and playful wrinkles formed on her nose. It wasn’t the forced or imitated smile she had worn since her husband disappeared; it was the first genuine expression of joy she had felt since then.

It was a warm smile she only used to give Kim Hyun. She looked down at him, still unable to get up, and smiled brightly.

Lee Wooshin, perhaps due to the aftermath of the fall, kept his gaze fixed on her with a deeply furrowed face. His Adam’s apple bobbed slowly like he was swallowing a drink.

“It’s unbelievable. What am I seeing right after opening my eyes?”

“Is your wrist hurting? Did I tie it too tight?”

“It’s not hurting, and it’s not too tight, but who smiles like that in front of their instructor?”

“What?”

“Even when smiling, there’s a time and place. Why show a face like that meant for the bedroom?”

“When did I–!”

“When working, always keep a neutral expression.”

His eerie eyes scrutinized her from head to toe, inspecting her eyes, nose, mouth, and even the innermost parts of her. His gaze, lingering on her red tongue and teeth, seemed predatory.

Seoryeong felt so nervous under his relentless gaze that her mouth went dry. Suddenly, she became hyper-aware of the position. Now, even her jaw, which had been relaxed from smiling, felt uncomfortable and awkward.

Whenever Lee Wooshin looked at her, she felt uneasy, like her muscles and nerves were tightening.

Maybe it was because she had rarely exchanged such blatant looks with anyone. She recalled Kim Hyun, thinking of the warmth and comfort her husband used to provide. It felt necessary to do so.

“By the way. What are we going to do now?”

Lee Wooshin slowly sat up at her question. He leaned his head against the icy wall, groaning in discomfort. Though he frowned intermittently, his voice remained steady.

“There are two ways out. Go back up, or go down.”

She had expected him to suggest waiting for rescue, not climbing themselves. Seoryeong, daunted by the idea, remained silent. Seeing this, Lee Wooshin leaned back further and sneered.

“Ah— Our Specialist Han Seoryeong preferred being up high.”

“What!”

“But realistically, neither is possible. We can’t climb the ice wall bare-handed without equipment.”

“So, we have to endure.”

He suddenly tore off the padding attached to his padded jacket and began smashing it on the ground.

“There’s a tracking device inside.”

As it cracked open from the pressure, it revealed a small red light blinking inside. Lee Wooshin smashed the tracker against the rocky floor until it was completely destroyed.

“Now they’ll realize something’s wrong with the instructor. The last location received will be here, so they’ll come looking for us. Our job is to survive until the rescue team arrives.”

The problem was that in this harsh winter, they had no bags, no equipment, just their bodies. Plus, Seoryeong had thrown away her outerwear.

As she grasped the reality of their situation, the adrenaline began to fade, and her teeth started to chatter. Her fingers tingled with cold.

Then Lee Wooshin took off his balaclava and placed it snugly over her head.

“Ugh!”

Seoryeong managed to pull her head through the tight knit fabric, her face reddened from the friction. Lee Wooshin, now very close, pulled the knit up over her nose and continued speaking.

“The head needs to be the warmest. If your head is exposed, you can lose about 40% of your body heat. The brain is especially sensitive to temperature and can’t withstand the cold. Just keep it on.”

“What about you, Instructor?”

“I’m wearing polypropylene underwear, and everything is Gore-Tex.” He casually pulled up the hood of his padded jacket.